Continuing to Wipe Up Your Curtis Granderson Tears

I know a lot of you are still upset about losing your favorite Tigers player, but I wanted to let you know that this Austin Jackson guy, cowering in the corner over there hoping for some love from the Tigers faithful, is not too shabby himself.  He’s a highly touted prospect and people are saying that he is going to be the Tigers starting centerfielder in 2010.

I’ve taken the liberty to line his minor league numbers up with Granderson’s and you might be surprised at some of the similarities between the two:

*Those are Granderson’s numbers if he had roughly an extra season’s worth of at bats, assuming he’d put up an average of his five year numbers.

Yes, Jackson has an extra season’s worth of stats to match up with Granderson.  But keep in mind that Jackson will be two years ahead of Granderson’s schedule if he is in fact the Tigers starting CF next season.  They are nearly mirror images, but with Granderson hitting with twice as much pop than Jackson, and Jackson swiping twice as many bags.

Regardless, Austin Jackson is his own man and he’s not going to evolve into this legend of Curtis Granderson.  However, if he progresses at the same rate Granderson did following his minor league seasons, Jackson should prove to be an excellent hitting CF for the Tigers, at a much cheaper price.

Jackson is six years younger than Granderson and was considered one of the best prospects in the Yankees system.  Even if he doesn’t reach his ceiling, which I believe to be higher than Granderson’s, remember that Detroit also received a quality reliever, Phil Coke, and significant cushion in their wallets as a result of this deal.

Listen, I loved Granderson as much as the next fan (well maybe not as much as this fan). I was one of the thousands he automatically accepted friendship requests from on facebook.  I donated money to his Grand Kids Foundation, so I could help him out and also receive an autographed photo.  In light of all the Tiger Woods stuff lately, I’ve reiterated in a past post how I don’t view athletes as these super humans who are not only incredible athletes, but exceptionally moral people, as well because it’s just simply not true.  Curtis Granderson is probably as close as I’ve been in years to believing an athlete is truly perfect off the field.

No matter what, though, my undying loyalty is to the Tigers.  Granderson is a Yankee now and I can safely say, I hope he never improves against lefties. It’s nothing personal, I hope he continues to be an upstanding person, who spends a lot of time helping kids, but this isn’t Major League Personalities.  This is Major League Baseball.

I’m legitimately excited about this Austin Jackson kid.